Cristbal Balenciaga – Biography of Cristbal Balenciaga

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Christopher Balenciaga was a Spanish fashion designer, born in the city of Getaria on January 21, 1895 and died in Valencia on March 23, 1972.

During his childhood, he often helped his mother seamstress, and already at the age of twelve, he began working as an assistant to a tailor. During his adolescence, the Marchioness of Casa Torres, Blanca Carrillo de Albornoz and Elio, an important lady of the nobility of their city, became his patron and client. The Marquesa sent the young Balenciaga to Madrid, where he learned the art of tailoring. In fact, Balenciaga was one of the few designers to draw, cut, and sew his own creations.

Balenciaga He was very successful as a designer in Spain, which allowed him to open a store in San Sebastián in 1919, followed by two others, in Madrid and Barcelona.

The Spanish royal family and aristocracy especially valued Balenciaga’s creations, but the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War forced him to close his shops and move to Paris. There he opened his own fashion house in 1937.

That same year, in his atelier on Parisian avenue George V, Balenciaga showed his first collection, inspired by the Spanish Renaissance. During the following years he continued to reinterpret styles belonging to different periods of Spanish history, as in his collection “Infanta“, inspired by the dresses of the portraits of Diego Velázquez in the painting”The Princess of Spain “, or in the collection “Jacket of light”, In which he represents the bolero used by Spanish bullfighters.

In 1945 he was part of the “Fashion theater“, a traveling exhibition of mannequin-dolls dressed in haute couture clothes designed by the best designers in Paris.

In 1947 Balenciaga launched its first perfume, “Le Dix“to remember the number of boutiques and, two years later, in 1949, he launched his second fragrance”La Fuite Des Heures“.

The 1950s were characterized by the New Look launched by Christian Dior, but not for Balenciaga, who decides to liberate women, transforming the silhouette, widening the shoulders, erasing the waist and eliminating the corset. Following these principles, he created the semi-adherent tailleur in 1951; in 1953 the balloon jacket and, in 1955, the tunic dress.
In 1955 he launched his third fragrance, “QuadrilleIn 1958, she introduced the Baby Doll dress, cocoon cape, and balloon skirt.

The culmination of Balenciaga’s success came in the early 1960s thanks to a reinterpretation of the classic empire dress. During the 1950s and 1960s, the Balenciaga fashion house name became firmly established in the field of haute couture.

However, in 1968, with the arrival of Pret-a-porter, Balenciaga retired, but without ceasing to be a great source of inspiration for future internationally famous designers such as Oscar de la Renta, André Courrèges, Emanuel Ungaro and Hubert. by Givenchy.

Currently the Balenciaga brand is in the hands of Alexander Wang, and is part of the Grupo Kering group.

Cristóbal Balenciaga died in the Spanish city of Valencia on March 23, 1972.